Gyanendra, Paras involved in 2001 royal massacre: Report

Kathmandu: Deposed King Gyanendra and his
son Paras were involved in the 2001 palace massacre that
killed ex-monarch Birendra along with most of his family, a
Nepalese prisoner, who claimed to be a former royal bodyguard,
has alleged.

Gyanendra has been at the centre of many conspiracy
theories, including the palace massacre that killed his
popular older brother Birendra along with most of the royal
family by the then crown prince Dipendra, who was allegedly
fuelled by a cocktail of drugs and alcohol.

Lal Bahadur Magar, who is serving a jail term Birgunj
jail on charge of killing a couple, claimed that he was an
eye-witness to the royal massacre, according to a report in
eKantipur, the online news portal of Kathmandu Post newspaper.

Magar claimed that former crown prince Paras was
behind the killing of the family of the former King, said the
report, which quoted the news agency RSS as saying.

According to the report, Magar, who claimed that he
was one of the bodyguards of Deependra at the time when the
massacre took place, accused Paras of involvement in the
killing when Maoist parliamentarian Leela Kumar Baga went to
meet him in the jail yesterday. The prisoner alleged that
Gyanendra had a hand in the massacre, the news portal
reported.

Gyanendra, who for the first time acquired a passport
in his name?at the age of 64 last month, is in India on a
personal visit since the first week of December.